OVERHEAD SCANNER

• US 20120320432A1
• Filed: 05/04/2012
• Published: 12/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PFU Limited (Fujitsu Limited)
• Original Assignee: PFU Limited (Fujitsu Limited)
• Inventors: KIMURA, Keisuke
• Granted Patent: US 8,736,918 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 358/474
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00535 using rotatably mounted or foldable components
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00814 according to a detected condition or state of the reading apparatus, e.g. temperature
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00997 Light control, e.g. shielding from ambient light or preventing light leakage
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/193 using electrically scanned linear arrays , e.g. linear CCD arrays
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0436 Scanning a picture-bearing surface lying face up on a support H04N2201/0434 takes precedence; using cylindrical picture bearing surfaces H04N1/06; with manual scanning H04N1/107
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0444 for securing moveable scanning components, e.g. for transportation

Abstract

An overhead scanner includes a main body, a rotation unit supported by the main body and being rotatable around a rotation axis, an imaging unit mounted on the rotation unit and is configured to read a medium placed on a placement surface below the rotation unit, a light source that irradiates the medium with light, a driving unit that moves the rotation unit around the rotation axis toward a placement side, where the medium is placed, and a posture change detecting unit that detects posture change of the main body. When it is determined that the main body falls down based on the posture change detected, while the rotation unit is located at a readable position for reading the medium, the driving unit moves the rotation unit toward the standby position where the rotation unit is located when the imaging unit does not read the medium.

Claims

1. An overhead scanner, comprising:

a main body;

a rotation unit supported by the main body so as to be rotatable around a rotation axis;

an imaging unit that is mounted on the rotation unit and is configured to read a medium to be read that is placed on a placement surface located below the rotation unit in a vertical direction;

a light source that irradiates the medium to be read with light;

a driving unit that moves the rotation unit around the rotation axis in a direction toward a placement side, on which the medium to be read is placed; and

a posture change detecting unit that detects posture change of the main body, wherein

a standby position where the rotation unit is located when the imaging unit does not read the medium to be read is located in an opposite direction to the direction toward the placement side, and

while the rotation unit is located at a readable position where the imaging unit is capable of reading the medium to be read, the driving unit moves the rotation unit around the rotation axis toward the standby position when it is determined that the main body falls down based on the posture change of the main body.

2. The overhead scanner according to claim 1, wherein the light source is mounted on the rotation unit.

3. The overhead scanner according to claim 1, wherein the light source is turned off when it is determined that the main body falls down based on the posture change of the main body while the rotation unit is located at the readable position.

4. The overhead scanner according to claim 1, wherein a torque limiter is interposed between the rotation unit and the driving unit.

5. The overhead scanner according to claim 4, further comprising a torque limit detecting unit that detects that torque transmission between the driving unit and the rotation unit is limited by the torque limiter, wherein

operation of the driving unit is stopped when limitation of the torque transmission is detected.

6. The overhead scanner according to claim 1, wherein

the main body includes a pedestal to be placed on the placement surface and a cover that is disposed above the pedestal in the vertical direction and is connected to the pedestal, and that covers the rotation axis, and

the rotation unit at a swing limit is located on an opposite side of the placement side in relation to a tangent line of the pedestal and the cover on the placement side.